My grandmother, Ontefetse Babusi, threshes sun-dried maize with a stick one afternoon of July 2017 at home in Kanye, Botswana.
The matriarch of my family, now 93, reminded me that she used to carry out this then-common chore from the time she was a young girl and through motherhood while taking care of her 8 children, including Gaontebale, my mother.
From the time I was a child, she taught me and my cousins folktales, songs and poems.
It was particularly when I was on fieldwork for my masters research study at Gasita that I trully appreciated my inspirational grandmother. The watershed moment was when I interviewd Rre Mogotsi le Mme Poni as well as their daughter Mma Ikoiheng in Gasita.
The previous night, while I was watching Btv news together with Gaontebale and Ontefetse; the latter sang a catchy song about Mogotsi, Poni and their daughter Mma Ikoiheng, from the 70s. She continued the telling song just before I left for Gasita the following morning.
“Seganana tje Mma Ikoiheng
Mma Ikoiheng wa seganana
O iteile Poni, o iteile Mogotsi”
Translates to:
The rude one is Mma Ikoiheng
Mma Ikoiheng is very rude
She beat up Poni, she beat up Mogotsi!
Of course, when I interviewed the trio, I did not utter a single word about the song. But I think the time has come to go interrogate them in regards to these set of words.
#Maizethreshing
#iLoveBotswana
#iAmMotswana
Blessing Kgosi e tsile Kgasa 